Over the last few years, the use of digital cameras has increased enormously, with digital cameras now commonly being incorporated into other portable electronic equipment, particularly mobile telephones. Over the same period, the resolution of those digital cameras has also increased considerably, with mobile telephones now having 2 Megapixel cameras integrated into them and digital cameras with upwards of 6 million effective pixels being widely available. Digital cameras allow users to take large numbers of photographs, knowing that they can be selective about which and how many images they may subsequently choose to print and/or retain. This results in a user having a large collection of digital images, where the file size for each image may be large.
SenseCam is a wearable camera developed by Microsoft Research which can be used to assist with memory recall by enabling a user to rewind through the recent events experienced by the wearer of the device. This may be particularly useful for memory-impaired individuals, or where an individual has experienced a traumatic event (e.g. an elderly person's fall resulting in injury). There are many other possible uses for SenseCam.
The device can capture very large numbers of images and in addition to capturing images, the device also records sensor data, such as movement, light level and temperature periodically. This sensor data is used to trigger the capturing of images, for example, when there is a change in light level or sudden movement. A change in light level may indicate that a user has moved from one room to another, or from inside to outside and therefore the image captured will indicate a change in location (and environment) of the wearer. The device has a wide angle or fish-eye lens so that the user does not need to worry about pointing the device in a particular direction. An accelerometer is used for image stabilisation.
Through use of a conventional digital camera or a SenseCam, a user may generate a huge collection of digital images that they may wish to distribute with others. The size of the image files coupled with typical internet connection speeds and mailbox size limits means that often it is not feasible to distribute more than a very select few images by email. Instead, images may be uploaded to a website where they can be viewed and downloaded by others. However, many people may be reluctant to publish collections of images, which may be of a personal event such as a holiday or birthday celebration, in such a publicly accessible manner.
One solution to this problem is to password protect the website and then to give the password to anyone who is permitted to view the images.